From surfing the web it looks like VSMON.EXE consuming a high percentage of CPU for a period of time is a known behavior. I find it normally happens when I wake my system out of hibernation in the morning or have been away from it for several hours.

I do not doubt the value that VSMON.EXE provides but Zonealarm is the only security system I've used that impacts users response time as much as I experience.

Is there no configuration change that can be made so there are no prolonged peak (80-95%) CPU consumption.

Also you can search the forum for high CPU/vsmon there are several resolved post ranging from corrupted install, corrupted settings, conflicting third party software, etc.

Finally we are all users here, ZA staff does not monitor this board. If you have a valid license you can contact, free of charge, the ZA technical support at the link in my signature (LIVE CHAT link at the ZA support page). Official support is the only one that can collect logs and escalate issues to development team